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Welcome to Ascent’s 2018 recap blog post. We couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to work with the smartest, most passionate and kind entrepreneurs and investors on a daily basis. 2018 was filled with lunchtime laughter, personal and professional growth, and plenty of new projects. We look forward to working with you in 2019 […]

The highlight of AWS Re:Invent is always the much anticipated keynote from CEO Andy Jassy. This year, over a three hour span, Jassy took us slide after slide through the dozens of new features AWS is rolling out. These were received by a mix of cheers and panic attacks from their competitors and hundreds of […]

The general role of a board is to provide oversight, guidance, feedback, governance and accountability. With board meetings, as with many things in life, you will get out what you put in – planning ahead thoughtfully and doing the prep work can lead to extremely valuable and productive board sessions. The inverse is also true […]

At HR Tech 2018 “Artificial Intelligence” was the phrase of the week, slapped onto as many tag lines as possible. But after demo-ing many technologies at the Expo, I’m not convinced we’re there yet. HR tech tends to lag most other industries, and according to research by Future Workplace only 6% of TA leaders are […]

Customer account management, which includes customer success, customer support and implementation is the key to a growing a SaaS business. This department, which typically develops after sales and engineering, is often the difference between business success or failure because its main function is to keep your existing customers happy and growing. Without it, SaaS companies […]

As entrepreneurs who have been through the fund raising process know, this question is one they should be prepared for when speaking with potential venture investors. Giving some real thought and analysis as to who will be a potential acquirer and why is important as it the mostly likely way that investors will eventually get […]

Borrowing an enterprise sales term, the “funnel” for startup opportunities at a venture firm starts very wide and ends up extremely narrow, and there are numerous stages along the way. From initial call or email to actual funding, there is a massive filtering process. The magnitude varies amongst firms, but to give you a sense, […]

The proliferation of technology is impacting our everyday lives in a big way. From navigating our route to work to facilitating mundane everyday tasks, technology is proving as disruptive as anything we’ve ever experienced. The workplace is no exception – where every employee used to show up and work from nine to five and leave […]

The world of work as we know it is in a state of flux – automation, robotics and other digital innovations are altering the fundamental nature of work. These developments bring the promise of higher productivity, safety, convenience and overall increased efficiencies, but also raise questions about the larger impact of technology on jobs, skills, […]

I am thrilled to announce Ascent’s investment in our newest portfolio company, empow. While I am excited for all of our investments, this one feels special in that it exhibits several of the core themes of Ascent’s strategy: It’s a thesis driven investment based on months of research and outreach It’s partnering with an exceptional […]